Happy New Year to all of our readers. If you are a new reader to Global Cement Magazine, Welcome. If you a regular reader, then welcome back to the magazine - yes, it really is Global Cement Magazine that you hold in your hands!

As you can tell, we have had a full redesign of Global Cement Magazine to give it a fresher and more modern look. We hope that it makes the magazine even easier to read - and for you to find the information that you are looking for.

A few days ago myself and my colleagues went to the funeral of our long-time company administrator, Margaret Masson. She was known to many subscribers and other readers of Global Cement around the world. Margaret passed away after a valiant battle with cancer: her infectious laugh - more like a cheerful cackle - will be missed by us all.

At Margaret's funeral, one of the readings was 'Success' by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The poem gives a list of actions and reactions by which one might deem your life to have been a success, including to laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons; to earn the approbation of honest critics; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm; and to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived: 'This is to have succeeded' says the poem.

Hopefully you won't have noticed, but Global Cement is a magazine (and newsletter, website, global cement directory and series of conferences) produced in the UK. I say that I hope that you won't have noticed, because we do try not to concentrate too much on what is happening in the UK, even if we do receive a lot of information about 'local' events. Hopefully, we have as much on happenings in other interesting parts of the world - we try to, at least.

However, please forgive me if I start off my column this month by mentioning two trends in the UK that could soon be manifested elsewhere around the world: Extreme anticartelisation and a forthcoming electrical energy crunch.

The publication of the new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a landmark moment. The report states that the UN-backed body of international scientists is 95% certain that half of the global warming seen in the years covered by the report is man-made. The other 50% of the warming effect is presumably perfectly natural and is therefore acceptable. This natural warming is to be bourne with gritted teeth and a sigh of weary acceptance. If sea level does eventually rise by a metre, then I shall curse the man-made half of the rise, but I will try to enjoy the other half of the sea level rise, like I might enjoy a lovely natural organic hummus wholemeal baguette.

It never ceases to amaze me that you can buy a tonne of cement so cheaply. The standard worldwide price of 42.5 cement is only US$60-80/t. In a few countries it might nudge $100/t and in some out-of-the-way spots, generally land-locked and a long way from competition from importers, it will peak at past US$200/t. However, for most producers, the most they will receive for their efforts in producing this miracle material is a measly hundred bucks - max. Take away the costs of production (especially the ever-increasing costs of raw materials, electrical energy, fuel, transport, labour, maintenance and finance*) and a cement producer is lucky to manage a 10% margin. If there is competition in a particular market then margins will drop below 5% - perhaps even below 0% (and that is when the trouble starts).